Advances in pre-hospital recognition and cooling treatment of exertional heat stroke / 中华危重病急救医学

ABSTRACT

Heat stroke (HS) is a life-threatening illness characterized by an altered level of consciousness with an elevated core body temperature 40 ℃, which may be further classified as exertional heat stroke (EHS) or classical heat stroke (CHS) according to the etiology of the condition. In recent years, the morbidity of EHS increases year by year. The severity and clinical outcome for an EHS casualty have a strong correlation with the area under the time and temperature curve for heat exposure. The early recognition and rapid cooling body core temperature ≤38.9 ℃ within 30 minutes of EHS results in the best clinical outcome and minimize severe multiple organ dysfunction and death for patients. Cold water immersion (CWI) is considered as an optimum cooling method for the reversal of hyperthermia in EHS. Some alternative modalities have also shown acceptable cooling rate, for example, the subjects immersed in a circulated water bath controlled below 20 ℃, tarp-assisted cooling with oscillation, body cooling unit, undressed, air-conditioned room, the whole body and large vessels placed ice packs, massaging the extremities; cold intravenous saline applied to dehydrated one. It is necessary to monitor body core temperature for hypothermia and/or recurrent hyperthermia, and to provide physical care for shivering, agitation, or concerns with the potential discomfort combativeness that may occur during cooling process. In this paper, pre-hospital recognition, care, monitoring and rapid cooling treatment measures of EHS have been reviewed to provide references for early identification of EHS and scientific, reasonable and effective cooling treatment.